California Dems Push for $536 Million Grant to Boost High-Speed Rail Project

Several key California Democrats are urging the U.S. Department of Transportation to approve a $536 million grant. And quick!

Why?

They’re trying to push forward the state’s high-speed rail network.

They’ve been sitting on it for 16 years but suddenly now they want to get it done. I wonder why?

Could it be that DOGE is onto them and will pull the funding of this project that’s costing billions?

Democrat lawmakers are now scrambling to keep the gravy train, no pun intended, flowing.

All aboard for a really expensive train ride that will probably never exist.

Here’s California’s own Governor Gavin Newsom in 2008 talking about it:

2008: California will have a high-speed rail from Los Angeles to San Francisco by 2020 at a cost of $30 billion.

2023: California will have a train from Bakersfield to Merced hopefully by 2030 at a cost of no less than $170 billion. pic.twitter.com/i6pwWlrymv

— BAY AREA STATE OF MIND (@YayAreaNews) November 13, 2024

Wow, a high speed rail is coming in 2020? That’s going to be so cool!

2024: Still doesn’t exist.

Summary of California High Speed Rail Project:
-Originally projected (in 2008) to cost $33 billion; now projected to cost between $88.5 and $127.9 billion
-Estimated completion date was 2020; as of 2024, zero passengers have been transported and the majority has not even been…

— Department of Government Efficiency (@DOGE) November 30, 2024

Fox News reports:

Several prominent California Democrats are calling on the U.S. Department of Transportation to approve a grant application for $536 million in federal funds to move forward with the state’s long-awaited high-speed rail network.

The monies would come from funds already allocated in general to “federal-state partnership[s] for intercity passenger rail grants” through the 2021 “Bipartisan Infrastructure Law” and made available via the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2024.

Democrats urged Secretary Pete Buttigieg to approve the funds, saying progress on the “California Phase I Corridor” is “essential to enhancing our nation’s and California’s strategic transportation network investments.”

“The Phase 1 Corridor aims to address climate concerns, promote health, improve access and connectivity, and boost economic vitality, while addressing current highway and rail capacity constraints,” a letter to the outgoing Cabinet member read.

Drafted by Sen.-elect Adam Schiff, Sen. Alex Padilla, and California Democratic Reps. Jim Costa, Zoe Lofgren and Pete Aguilar, the letter calls for the funds to go to two projects in particular: tunneling through the Tehachapi Mountains in Southern California and through the Pacheco Pass of the Diablo Mountains in Northern California.

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“These investments will continue to support living wage jobs, provide small business opportunities, and equitably enhance the mobility of communities in need – including disadvantaged agricultural communities – all while reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” Schiff and the other lawmakers wrote.

“Please consider the enormous value and meaningful impact that FSP-National grant funding will provide to advancing CAHSR beyond the Central Valley,” they told Buttigieg.

The bores are needed, the lawmakers said, to connect with other intercity passenger rail systems including the Brightline West, CalTrain, Metrolink and Altamont Commuter Express.

Fast trains and no homeless problem, they said.

Gavin Newsom 2004: Here’s my plan to solve homelessness in 10 years.

Gavin Newsom 2010: California is going to get it right with this new high speed rail.

California 2024: pic.twitter.com/I5KiehMWdm

— Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) December 24, 2024

It’ll be great, they said.

It’ll be finished by 2020, they said.

Was it just a grift for money laundering?

Remember folks, there’s never been a better time to move to California.

That is, if you’re a fan of chaos.